About Jaye: Holding Space for the Deepest Rhythms of Healing

A Somatic Approach to Healing, Resilience, and Embodied Capacity

Jaye Fishel, a somatic therapist based in Echo Park, Los Angeles.

How I Show Up: Human-to-Human Support

At its core, my work is human-to-human. We are tribal animals, we weren’t meant to process the hard stuff in isolation. If you missed out on the support you needed during your rawest moments, it is my deep honor to be the person who holds that space for you now. I’m here to help your nervous system learn what safety actually feels like.

Identity & Values

As a white, queer person of Jewish ancestry with a genderqueer ethos (using any pronoun), I am committed to providing a safe, affirming, and inclusive space for every individual.

In doing healing work, I see how cycles of trauma continue and how they can be broken through disrupting the status quo. I offer pro-bono sessions as part of Free Clinic NYC, a group of therapists and organizers in New York (and beyond) committed to Palestinian liberation, prison abolition, and accessible and liberatory therapeutic care.

My Path: From Survival to Presence

My path into this work comes from my lived experience. Losing my mother to brain cancer at age twelve left me with a profound sense that some wounds were simply too large and deep to resolve. For years, I moved through the world stuck in a painful and lonely survival loop I couldn’t think my way out of, while working hard to appear as a “normal girl”.

It wasn't until I found somatic work that I realized I didn't need to be fixed. I just needed my body to learn a new language with the right support. Through Somatic Experiencing, I learned how to remain steady with sensations that used to feel like they would swallow me whole. It felt like a miracle, and still does.

Growing my resilience gave me a second chance at life. I’m no longer running on the outdated software of my past. I’m present for my own joy, my creative spark, and the fullness of life's ups and downs.

Beyond the Office

I’m an East Coast transplant (the NJ-to-Florida pipeline) who’s called California home since 2005. When I’m not in the office, I love hunting for the perfect vintage red booth restaurant in LA, reading in the sun, or soaking in a natural hot spring. I’m a devotee of pop music and the magic of dancing in a room full of strangers. I love my dog, my garden, and the luxury of slowing down. I was born under Pisces sun, Taurus rising, Cancer moon.

Expertise & Lineage

My practice is a product of experiential training from incredible teachers, including Gary Strauss, Berns Galloway, Mahshid Hager, Peter Levine, Shel Rasch (my mentor), Kathy Kain (Somatic Touch), and Diane Poole Heller (Fundamentals of Attachment Styles).

Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP): Three-year specialized training in embodied trauma resolution (completed in 2021).
Craniosacral Therapy (CST): Advanced expertise in Upledger and Craniosacral Unwinding.
Post-Advanced Trauma Training: Specialized in Medical Trauma, Pre-verbal Trauma, Near-Death Experiences, and Altered States of Consciousness.
Certified Massage Therapist (CMT #83096 by the state of California): Integrative bodywork trained at IPSB Culver City.
Touch Skills Training for Trauma Therapists: Kathy Kain’s Somatic Touch

I am an active assistant for Somatic Experiencing® trainings across the U.S. and an approved personal session provider for SE students at the intermediate level.

As a member of Somatic Experiencing International, the American Massage Therapy Association, and the Energy Medicine Professional Association, I remain current with best practices in somatic healing and trauma-focused care.

For deeper reflections on the body and the world, you can find my writing on: Your Intelligent Nervous System.